In hydrodynamic foil bearings, it is desirable to create a thick fluid film to minimize surface wear. The angle of the wedge-shaped entrance gap between the relatively moving surfaces should be very low to build up as thick a film as possible. In the type of thrust bearing under consideration, a relatively thin plate which is satisfactory for forming an efficient wedge at low loads will not retain its shape at high loads and a steeper, less efficient wedge results. Supplementing the thin plate with a thicker plate for high load regions of operation permits a formation of thicker films and longer bearing life.